P. Cinereus Sexual Selection

Reproductive monogamy is defined as an exclusive sexual relationship between a female and a male based on their sexual interactions. Social Monogamy refers to male and female’s social living arrangement without sexual interactions. It refers to the living patterns, raising offsprings, and obtaining food. Monogamy is common in birds, but also occurs in invertebrates. Why would a male mammal choose to mate with one female when he can mate with more than one? Why would the male stay around instead of finding another female to live with? Many researchers have attempted to answer this question of why some mammals prefer monogamy over polygamy. Vole rats, one of the species that perform monogamous mating, demonstrate pair boding. Male and female pairs of vole rats have been observed together over several months, and the males stay with females even when the female is not reproductively active. A typical vole family in the wild is almost always consisted of one male, one female, and their offspring. In addition, unlike other species in which females are the only ones taking care of the offspring, vole rats share parental roles and even build nests together. Because they show these monogamous behaviors, they have served as a good species/model to learn about monogamy for neuroscientists. In this paper, monogamy, specifically in vole rats, will be explained along with its proximate and ultimate causes of this adaptation.

There are 2 types of sexual selection. Intersexual selection takes place when males compete for the

Judson contributes to onefs understanding of sex among different organisms in that she makes difficult concepts simple to comprehend. Although she uses scientific terminology, she limits it so that anyone can understand the technical information she shares. Judson also describes the types of environments in which each species and

One advantage of sexual reproduction is that these organisms generally have greater genetic diversity. Organisms who reproduce asexually, on the other hand, are essentially clones of each other. This means that their predators can adapt to hunt them easily. The diversity of sexually reproducing organisms allows them to stay a step ahead of their predators because of their genetic variations and their ability to adapt via natural selection (Brockmyre 2015).

Although sexual selection may seem like natural selection, they both happen to have different features that separate them from one another. Sexual selection involves dominance and competition between organisms. Furthermore, it deals with the attractiveness some traits hold when drawing attention to other mates. A common example is that of the peacock and its vibrant feathers. The peahens are attracted to flashy feathers that the peacock flaunts, and they will eventually choose the mate that displays itself as the most extravagant. Ultimately, they will procreate and the peacock will pass on the trait involving his feathers since he was chosen as a mate.

Darwin’s theory is in regards to natural selection and sexual selection. The gorilla is an animal that uses the two selections to determine their protection, feeding, and reproduction. First Charles Darwin described the characteristics and structures that a animal like a gorilla is born with. He states that these characters and structures will have slow changes that will be different than when they were born. Then he believes that they will have characters and structures that are trifling important. This means that although the structures and characters may look like they aren’t important, these structures and characters actually have a significant factor regarding their protection. The gorilla possess significant structures and characters that are prime for their survival. Thirdly, Darwin believes that in natural selection animals like gorillas have structures and characters that are beneficial between the young and the old. These structures and characters are what protects gorillas. They are also used to feed gorillas like the breast on a female gorilla, or the silver hair on the back of a male gorilla. Lastly, Darwin explains the greatness of sexual selection involving gorillas. He also believe that they use determining factors on what male gorilla the female gorilla chooses to reproduce with. After analyzing the quotes from Darwin’s “The Survival of the Fittest”, I will explain the quotes to some degree and use examples that the gorillas possess that are

Albeit, the sexual selection theory is presumed force of natural selection causing individuals to develop reproductive strategies which maximize the like hood of their producing the fittest possible offspring. Otherwise, suggested a competition between males and competition for females as the two most likely mechanism of sexual selection theory.

Although most mammals are not monogamous why do some of them exhibit this behavior? We could address this question by looking at different examples of monogamous mammals and what genetic and environmental factors could have influenced this behavior. We can also look at what hormones could be involved in pair-bonding

They based their study on the animals’ DNA and to provide evidence that sexual selection acts more strongly on females than on males. They collected Gulf pipefish from the Atlantic coast of Florida. To test monogamy, female pipefish were constrained to mate with a maximum of four males. As a result, much evidence was found to indicate that females experience stronger sexual selection than males in the population of Gulf pipefish. The average number of mates per female was about two while the number of mates per male was exactly one. This evidence is described as polyandry, which in this case produces stronger sexual selection for females. The variance of female mating success was seven times higher than male mating success. The only downfall for this experiment was that some male pipefish that had been collected may had recently given birth and may have been preparing their brood for a succeeding pregnancy. It was also found that mating females were larger in size and more embellished than average, concluding that males may prefer to mate with larger and more embellished females. In conclusion, the Gulf pipefish appears to have an extreme form of polyandry and it is supported that females have a far stringer sexual

Gaalema performed the experiment “Sexual Conditioning in the Dyeing Poison Dart Frog” to increase the rate of reproduction among these endangered frogs. 38 dart frogs including 19 males and 19 females were put into pairs and separated into three different groups (Gaalema 8). The three groups included a control group that received no conditioning, an experimental group that received an active control conditioning, and another experimental group that received experimental conditioning (Gaalema 8). In the experimental condition, a green LED light would flash for approximately 90 second intervals followed by a 120 second interval of interaction between the opposite sex paired frogs (Gaalema 9). The LED lights were used as a conditional stimulus and the presentation of the opposite sex frog was used as an unconditional stimulus (Gaalema 9).

As a result, he makes the whole process of sexual selection in animals identifiable with our own process of sexual selection as humans and by doing so establishes a rapport between the two that allows readers to themselves examine the similarities between humans and animal sexual selection processes. But perhaps a better connection can be seen through Darwin’s less violent example of sexual selection between birds. Darwin relates, “Amongst birds, the contest is often of a more peaceful character… The rock-thrust of Guiana, birds of Paradise, and some others, congregate; and successive males display their gorgeous plumage and perform strange antics before the females, which standing by as spectators, at last choose the most attractive partner. Those who have closely attended to birds in confinement well know that they often take individual preferences and likes” (29). The process by which birds pick partners is much more relatable to humans from a beauty standpoint. The extravagant plumage of the Guiana serves to attract mates, much like facial or bodily features do in humans, and these attractive traits are passed down to individuals in order to make them stand out in contrast to their

Males and females differ considerably in how much they each invest in order to make offspring and a result of this, they approach mating with different methods. Researchers and scientists learn and examine these varying mating systems to explain how males and females pair up. A mating system explains the techniques males and females use to pair up when selecting a mate. It is important to begin by reviewing and understanding the reproductive strategies among primates. The major types of mating systems found in primates are monogamy and polygamy. Monogamy is a practice of mating in which one male pairs with one female. Polygamy also known as bisexual, is a pattern of mating in which a male mates with more than one female and a female mates with more than one male (Wong , 2010). Polygamy is then clarified into polygyny and polyandry. Polygyny is when one male mates with multiple females. Polyandry is when one female mates with multiple males. Recognizing the diversity of mating systems will help in understanding the interactive relationship of sexual size dimorphism and behavior in primates.

Red Tailed Catfish mating systems are diverse and sexual selection is expected to be stronger in some lineages than others. In particular, polygynous mating systems and female-only parental care set the stage for potentially strong sexual selection by female choice. But does such intraspecific choosiness target the same coloration traits that also determine assortative mating.

Some disadvantages of sexual reproduction are as follows. Sexual reproduction cannot be done without a mate. Females want to mate with the best males who are strong and on top of the hierarchy. This can take lots of time and effort to find. It can even take years for an offspring to come out of mating for the female. The successful genes of an individual are being split up into a combined form with another individual's and it is not always guaranteed that the offspring of these two successful organisms will come out successful. Sexual reproduction is less reliable since fifty percent of these new combinations end up failing. When organisms mate, they are distracted by the pleasure they are giving to each other. All the ruckus and noises will attract predators and is also a disadvantage.

Intersexual selection describes one sex (commonly females) choosing male partners for copulation. Females tend to choose the males based on secondary sexual characteristics. Intrasexual selection, on the other hand, is competition within the same sex, in the hope of gaining access to the other sex for reproduction (Eberhard, 1996). It is commonly male species competing against each other for female partners. These two forms of sexual selection results in more developed offspring, as the fitter male will out-compete other males and also is more likely to be chosen be